Alibijaban Island (ALIBIHABAN) San Andres, Quezon.

San Andres Quezon is a
municipality in the southern tip of Quezon province, a subtle town with
structurally rich culture and vast attraction in secrecy. Two years ago I was in search of
the best Beaches in the Philippines when I stumbled upon few websites that
unveils the charm of a secluded Island in San Andres Quezon, the Alibijaban
Island (A-Li-Bi-Ha-Ban). Another stunning Island off to tourist radar soon I'll
be conquering.

I've gone over some articles as
a reference to the said Island, I approached one of the
bloggers who wrote an article about Alibijaban and earnestly answered my
questions, he even gave dope ideas that will help us on our travel escapade. It took me awhile to make this
trip possible with numerous attempts asking different sets of friends willing
to join me until one agreed. I was just wondering if the place was secured
enough to visit since there were only few blog entries you can see on the web,
another loads of paranoia conquers me (I'm writing this now with the recent
fiery fallen 44 tragedy on my head**SNAP). My friends and I hastened the
preparation and packed our stuff for this awesomest adventure.

Last week of March was the date
of our trip, the buses bound to San Andres were very limited, Superlines only
operates its direct trip bound to San Andres Thrice or Twice Daily so it was
safe to assume that we will be taking an airconditioned bus at the
very least but we were all wrong. We had an 11 hour butt-numbing journey
way to San Andres Quezon via ordinary Bus. The entire journey was
uncomfortable, passengers were loading their huge luggages in and out, some
were inconsiderably chatting while we were trying to nap, I even
spotted roosters on board so just imagine the entire situation.

The cold breeze of day break was
whiffing pass our faces, we then started to appreciate
the situation, we embraced the journey way to paradise. We observed
that most passengers with tons of luggage/goods had to travel 6 hours from
their hometown just to buy their needs so we felt a bit guilty by that. After 11 hour bus ride (4 or 5
stop-overs) we finally reached San Andres Quezon, we hired three
"tri-bikes" or we also call it "Padyak" in tagalog heading
to public market, after completing all our must-have's we headed to San Andres Port
going to AlibiJaban Island.I
lost connection and missed to contact the well known boat man in the Island
good thing there's an available boat, the local boat-man charged us ₱40
per person, one way to Alibijaban Island, I was thinking kinda strange since
our contact (well known boatman of the Island) bid ₱1500 round-trip,
quite expensive I know.

On our second day we
visited the the renowned sandbar of Alibijaban Island. The sandbar is
accessible in 20 minute walk but due to searing heat of the sun we opted to
rent a small boat which cost us ₱30/Head. We reached the Island sandbar in
less than 10 minutes, the moment nature revealed its wonder in our very eyes we
were all awestruck, I don't usually see triple sand bar in Manila so please
forgive that "awestruck" thingy. We settled for 2 hours, a
combination activities of bathing and photo whoring, it was already 12 noon
when we decided to go back.

Let me
tell you the story behind the photo of these two lovely girls of Alibijaban.

Ate Azenith asked two local girls to guide us going to specific
part of the Island (to the concerete bridge with mangroves), then I heard the
other girl (the girl in red) said "tara sama tayo para may picture naman
tayo" (Let's go join them so we can at least have a photo taken).

There you have it ladies! request granted!Sorry that we missed to
give you girls a tip since we went for swimming right after you guide us. If I
heard it correctly the name of the girl in red is Yvette, I also saw her photo
in Ian's Article. On our
way back to San Andrers I asked our in-charged boatman how much will
it cost going back to the city proper, he said ₱750/₱150 per head on
the contrary other local boatmen advised that it will only cost us ₱40 per
person to cross the main point, we didn't bother digging more details and
simply agreed on his bid, we just thought of it as a kindness in return, they
were all nice after all.

For
those who are planning to visit the Island, you may contact different boatman
not because what we had was expensive but to give chance for the other boat-men
on the Island, I guess it'll not be bad to patronize or try different host
boatman this time, it would still be a big help for the local's livelihood.

I
would like to commend the people of Baranggay Alibihaban for their warm
hospitality, their kindness were extraordinary. They may be anticipated that
most tourist were impotent of some chores, we thank them for cooking our every
meal and their long patience in looking at all our needs especially Ate
Azenith, of course we gave her a reasonable tip, I hope it was enough for her.

We're planning to go back before
the school year starts to provide school supplies for the kids, I hope we can
raise funds to help them. Let me share this; My friend from a well off family
asked the local children what would they want to have when we go back, and some
answered- "SKY FLAKES, LAPIS AT PAPEL" (skyflakes Cracker, Pencil and
Paper), we were expecting a more luxurious answer like iceream or pizza, but
SKYFLAKES? A deep felt sympathy hit me.

Alibijaban Island is certainly a
place to visit, the tranquil beauty of the Island and the humble character of
the people will captivate the heart of its visitor. The people of San
Andres were very accommodating. My deepest thanks to everyone who guided us
throughout our quick getaway. Once again, THANKS ALIBIJABAN!I will be back
soon.

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The Traveler

I'm Franco Ayson, I was once a travel-blogger-wanna-be that slowly evolved to being a travel-blogger-wanna-be, yes I'm still a wanna be! I look up to numerous writers/travel bloggers who made their names in this world of blogging, so far I'm still a no match but I'm getting there. I write to share my stories, I write to inspire people who have self doubts just like where I was, I write in no perfect grammar nor perfectly captured photos at times, I'm just an ordinary guy in the trajectory of full adventure. Join me and let's take the route less traveled!
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